What would you do if you found out you were allergic to your spouse?
This segment on Good Morning America still has me thinking, so I thought I’d present this discussion to the collective today.
This condition known as seminal fluid hypersensitivity can cause: typical allergic reactions (such as a stuffy nose, itching, wheezing/sneezing, hives) along with more troublesome symptoms such as infertility, chest tightness, vomiting, diarrhea, and in a worst case scenario death due to anaphylactic shock.
What would you do if you found out your s/o’s “fluids” were causing your allergy? Would you get treated? Leave the person?
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Sneezzzz alot and take whatever meds….
I’d probably just deal with it
I would know by now.. actually.. I would know pretty early on, most likely before things got really serious. Though really, in my current situation, things were pretty serious by the time we met in person and slept together… so… obviously my answer doesn’t fit my current relationship. lol
Get treated.
Life is too short to not enjoy the passion of my soul-mate.
It depends on how severe the reaction was. If it wasn’t terribly bad I would just deal. If it truly made me miserable I would try to avoid it by using condoms and taking/using any available medication. If sex is making you feel bad physically, you’re less likely to continue doing it frequently.
Well according to what I read it is not particular to one S/O. It is an allergic reaction to seminal fluid in general. Correct?
If it’s an allergic reaction to male sperm then I’d suggest a vasectomy. If it’s an allergic reaction to all seminal fluid then I ‘wrap it up’ and get on with it.
@RedPowerLady Correct. And it can cause some pretty significant reactions including bleeding/blistering (I missed adding those up there). So if the couple (like the one above) wanted to have kids, a condom wouldn’t be the best solution. Or if condoms were against one’s religion obviously that’d create yet another issue.
I was just thinking of this on a personally “what if” level. If I were allergic to my husband’s sperm, I’d most likely seek treatment as long as the treatment didn’t create any other health conflicts.
@hungryhungryhortence From what I read it was an allergic reaction to seminal fluid in general. They did suggest “wrapping it up” but I guess that didn’t work in most cases.
@SpatzieLover Ya I think I’d seek treatment as well. If not then it would significantly reduce intimacy.
@hungryhungryhortence That’s a solution I hadn’t thought of. Is their protein in the fluid without sperm presence? I think there still is “some”
@RedPowerLady I was thinking I’d avoid him like the plague if I didn’t have treatment. I have seasonal allergies, but this reaction is much worse (hives all over the body, vaginal swelling-etc)
This is a recent development? It sounds like latex allergy to me. Possibly even a new soap either he uses directly or being used on the sheets. (I am just throwing out other ideas despite the diagnosis above)
@Dog No, but it is more easily diagnosed now. It’s an allergy to the protein in the sperm.
@Dog especially for a couple that learns of the allergy on their honeymoon by rushing the bride to the ER for hemorrhaging or a body riddled with hives
Start working on building resistance. It could be a project we worked on closely together. :^>
This actually happened to me. The gentleman I was engaged to, required sex 2 -3 times a day. Which in my 20’s I didn’t mind, but I started having an odor and discharge that I never had before. My GYN at the time could find no reason for this so I figured that I was perhaps allergic to him. It worked out for the best since we parted ways, but if we had stayed together we would have had to find a solution.
Ugh, ALL semen? Not just from one guy?
How do they have children? That’d be pretty upsetting. If it was only hives and redness for a couple days, I’d put up with it to have kids..like once or twice, hoping the sperm hit the mark. But, I’d use a condom any other time. Or vasectomy if that helped.
I’d carry an epipen and a flask of benadryl.
Take Benedryl and make sure he used a condom. We adopted children anyway for other reasons, so not making our own kids isn’t a big deal for us.
@casheroo I saw an entire show on this. The having children part was pretty difficult for some couples. As was intimacy. Amazingly enough the husbands were very supportive of the situation. The show also included women who were so nervous during sex it caused their cervix? to close causing extreme pain.
@SpatzieLover You are going to think i’m nuts. But it was either Dr. Phil or Oprah I think. LOL.
@RedPowerLady Nope…not nuts. I saw Dr.Oz had some info i=on his site…so I bet it was Oprah! I just couldn’t believe I’d never heard of it before
@SpatzieLover i’m a little bit embarrassed to admit watching those shows, lol
@RedPowerLady I’m not. I’ve learned a lot from Oprah over the years.
Okay, so if I were in this situation, I would have to know a little more about the science of it to know what to do other than cry.
According to this case study it is possible to conceive via in vitro fertilization. Its comment about being allergic to her husband’s seminal plasma proteins means proteins in the ejaculate, not the sperm. So even with a vasectomy, you’d still have a reaction. It is possible to attempt a scientist/doctor aided insemination with pure sperm and not all the other fluid shot up into you but it’s a gamble.
(When you have sex normally, there are tons of things going on to attempt to help sperm get up there in addition to making it difficult for them. For example, your uterus has a “flow” of sorts that helps fluids move up into it. It’s not completely explained but it’s the same reason why women can get pregnant even it they’re on top. So, the turkey baster of sperm is chancy if only because I believe (I didn’t completely pay attention in class on this one) sex drives that. All the hormone release and what not. So if you’re in a cold doctor’s office and they just inject some into you, it’s even less likely to work than if you just had sex with your man.)
Anyway, according to this article and a couple others on PubMed, it is possible to desensitize your immune system but it requires sex every 48–72 hours. After the first couple uncomfortable ones, your immune system begins to develop a tolerance, but if you mess up, it can come back. You can also try to take some anti-allergy drugs with varied effect. The information on this “desensitization” method does not indicate if it would alter your sex in any other way.
In the end, I think for sex, I’d have condoms and if I really wanted to get pregnant, try the desensitization for a year (with that much sex, should help your odds on baby anyway) and if that didn’t work either adopt or go in vitro.
And if it’s the problem with seminal protein, it is possible to be allergic to all men, depending on what part of the protein is setting off your allergy. Scary.
@Iclamae I wish I could give 100 lurve for that one! You considered every aspect!
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